Kennesaw GA REQUIRES Gun ownership?

This has probably been posted before. But my wife is in Atlanta and told me, which I had never heard before, that Kennesaw Georgia passed a law in 1982 that REQUIRES all heads of household (nonfelon) to have a firearm in their house at all times...?

"Surprisingly" they have almost zero crimes or violence by gun.
(Surprising, only to the libs!)
Why hasn't this success been reported in the media?
(Well, we all know why...)

In March 1982, responding to the passage of a handgun ban in Morton Grove, Illinois, and the fawning media coverage that accompanied it, the city council of Kennesaw, Georgia, decided to make a statement of its own. With exceptions duly made for convicted felons, the disabled, and those with religious objections, the council passed (unanimously) an ordinance requiring each head of household to own and maintain a gun.

The moment the story hit the wire services, a media invasion swept into Kennesaw, a small city on the northwestern frontier of suburban Atlanta. The telephones of council members began ringing off the hook. CNN called. Today called. The then-mayor, Darvin Purdy, went on Donahue.

The press reacted predictably. The Washington Post issued a mock salute to "the brave little city of Kennesaw, Ga., soon to be pistol-packing capital of the world." In a column titled "Gun Town U.S.A.," Art Buchwald described a place where routine disagreements would be settled in Wild West shootouts. Mayor Purdy declined to talk to the Post about his own guns, claiming that "the caliber of my weapons is a personal matter." In the hands of the Post's reporter, Purdy ended up sounding like Dr. Strangelove's General Ripper, the nut bent on preserving his "precious bodily fluids."

"The national media," recalls Chief of Police Dwaine L. Wilson, "made a big shadoo out of it, [but] most of the people in this area already owned some type of firearm." Actually, the media's amazement rang hollow. The press gang expected as much from the rural South. But it is safe to say they did not expect the results.

Today Kennesaw is a burgeoning town of more than 11,000, the population having doubled since 1982. Industrial growth has transformed the former bedroom community into a bustling hub of economic activity. The town built a new wing onto city hall in 1988 and this year bought a new garbage truck and a street sweeper. Tax receipts have soared, Mayor J. O. Stephenson notes proudly, even as tax rates have fallen.

Crime just isn't much of a problem in "Gun Town U.S.A." According to state figures, Kennesaw's per-capita crime rate has remained essentially static (and low) since 1983. The most recent homicide, in 1989, was committed with a knife. The last gun homicide, in 1986, involved two young men from out of state who were staying at a local motel. "A little alcohol," Chief Wilson recalls, "had something to do with it. They were daring one another to shoot each other, so one of them did." Aside from that incident, Wilson says, there have been no problems with "anybody shooting anybody," even by accident.

Mayor Stephenson is proud of Kennesaw and its unique gun law. A businessman who runs his own pest-control firm, Stephenson does his mayoring part-time. The mayor thinks the election of Bill Clinton, "a liberal, Ivy Leaguer type," gave gun-control forces a boost. Clinton may hail from a marginally Southern state, Stephenson says, but "he don't fit the mold of most of us down thisaway." Dismissing the Brady law as "a bunch of hogwash," he says waiting periods "just don't work and [only] make it inconvenient for people like me."

Stephenson fears the slippery slope. "Next year, I'll guaran-damn-tee you that there'll be another bill broadening the number [and] kinds of guns you can't own." I ask him if Kennesaw's gun law would work in, say, New York City. "I don't know, but gun control don't work in New York City either."

A third-generation lawman who worked his way up from patrol duty, Chief Wilson looks the part with his close-cropped hair and robust build. He says people, not guns, are the fundamental problem: "People are going to find ways to kill people if that is what they want to do." The chief doubts the worth of gun buybacks, but he is interested, musing dryly that he's got "several old pieces" he could swap for a nice new pair of tennis shoes.

Over at the Shanty House Country Restaurant, manager Judy Turner flashes a smile when asked about the gun law. "We don't have a [crime] problem like they do other places," she says, because would-be crooks "all know we'll have guns."

No one is more enthusiastic about the law than Dent "Wildman" Myers, proprietor of Wildman's Civil War Surplus. With a .45 holstered on each hip and a bandanna tied around his head, Myers looks like Willie Nelson retired from a biker gang. He sells an eclectic mix of books, memorabilia, war wares, and medicinal herbs. (One shelf of books is labeled "Margrat Mitchell.")

As conspiracists and misanthropes go, Myers seems oddly light-hearted, almost jolly. He hates Bill and Hillary and "Zig-Zag" (Governor Zell Miller); doesn't care for gays, blacks, Jews, or immigrants; mistrusts big business and big government; and figures if AIDS doesn't end the world, "race mixing" will. He thinks baseball is fixed and that William Buckley's "bombasticism" may have resulted from something in his childhood. (As for his own bombasticism, he says, "I've got no excuse.") Genuine and colorful yet hardly representative, Myers is the first guy out-of-town reporters want to interview. He fits the bill.

Just down the street, at Big Shanty Hardware, owner Dave Collier is selling lawnmowers. To Collier, the problem of gun violence is larger than guns. He wonders about all the dysfunctional families, the scarcity of good parenting. "There are some underlying problems in this country that they don't know how to solve," he says.

Twelve years after it began, Kennesaw's experiment in crime control does not present itself as an easy way to arrest the killing in America's streets. It does, however, suggest where the problem doesn't lie. As Mayor Stephenson told a national gun rally in Kennesaw a few years back, "We're the town that proves more guns doesn't have to mean more crime."

This has probably been posted before. But my wife is in Atlanta and told me, which I had never heard before, that Kennesaw Georgia passed a law in 1982 that REQUIRES all heads of household (nonfelon) to have a firearm in their house at all times...?

It HAS been posted, many times on many boards. It's "news" only to you. :scrutiny:
And question marks don't belong at the end of declarative sentences.

"Surprisingly" they have almost zero crimes or violence by gun. (Surprising, only to the libs!) Why hasn't this success been reported in the media? (Well, we all know why...)

Riiiiiiiiiiiiight; the same media that "buried" Daryll Scott's testimony

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/scott.htm

and "covered up" Judge Young's denunciation of Richard Reid

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/shoebomb.asp

has conspired to keep Kennesaw out of public view. :rolleyes:

It was news in 1982 - it's now 2006. And there was no more MSM conspiracy about it than there was for the above two stories.

All they have in common are specious claims about "cover-ups" keeping them out of the news.

Art Eatman

August 21, 2006, 12:17 AM

This unenforced city ordinance was passed as a sneer at the City of Morton Grove, Illinois, when that city passed a "no guns" ordinance.

Another interesting fact is that although Kennesaw has grown by a large amount in population since 1982, the crime rate there is still very low.

Art

Byron Quick

August 21, 2006, 12:38 AM

There are actually rumors that Kennesaw's law has been ignored by the media? Sorry, it's been done up several times.

But, hey, it was back in 1982! If you weren't old enough to be paying attention to the news in the early and middle eighties then no wonder you might have missed it. It was 24 years ago.

How many people begin following the news closely in their teens or early twenties?

I'm willing to bet money you won't be able to find a shooter in his fifties in the US who doesn't know that Kennesaw has a law requiring heads of households to own a firearm. By the way, the law isn't enforced and never has been. It was passed after some town up north-Illinois, I think-passed a law banning handguns in the city.

Liberal Gun Nut

August 21, 2006, 12:45 AM

As conspiracists and misanthropes go, Myers seems oddly light-hearted, almost jolly. He hates Bill and Hillary and "Zig-Zag" (Governor Zell Miller); doesn't care for gays, blacks, Jews, or immigrants; mistrusts big business and big government; and figures if AIDS doesn't end the world, "race mixing" will. He thinks baseball is fixed and that William Buckley's "bombasticism" may have resulted from something in his childhood. (As for his own bombasticism, he says, "I've got no excuse.") Genuine and colorful yet hardly representative, Myers is the first guy out-of-town reporters want to interview. He fits the bill.

Whatever good PR we can get from this situation, Mr. Myers (who doesn't care for gays, blacks, Jews or immigrants) neutralizes it and pushes us "in the red" for PR.

Yuck.

SomeKid

August 21, 2006, 12:48 AM

How many people begin following the news closely in their teens or early twenties?

I know one who did, but I wasn't even conceived until well after '82.

evan price

August 21, 2006, 01:59 AM

Art & Byron, thanks for the info.

Tory, I'm pushing 40 and I never heard of this. Of course I had other stuff on my mind like cars and girls in 1982.

As far as a media "cover up" goes, no, there is no "active" cover up in progress and I have no idea why you bring Columbine & the Shoe Bomber into this. What I mean is that, in todays' liberal media environment, anything that could or would tend to show responsible gun ownership in a positive light will never receive any sort of press. Look at Kennesaw's crime statistics. Compare that to any other city, where firearms related crime or deaths get front page treatment and are plastered about in our faces by those who seek to end our "unhealthy obsession" with gun culture.

I''m talking about the headline to the possible story of a man who used his CCW to save his family from an armed intruder. The headline would read, "Man Shot To Death In Botched Robbery" instead of, "Man Saves Family From Armed Robber"
Tell me which headline do you think would get the front page today, Tory?

For every openly touted gun buyback program aimed at "reducing street crime and firearms violence", where no appreciable dent is made in any actual crime, Kennesaw should be the counterpoint.

Where big city newspapers lament of the murder rate and how many are directly "attributed" to firearms & why more gun control is the proposed solution, Kennesaw should be the answer.

Whenever a liberal gun grabber out there screams that shall-issue CCW will result in streets running red with blood and replays of the Wild West occuring nightly, we should point to Kennesaw.

Whomever of the Brady crew and their toadies who spew out that the mere presence of a gun causes violence and mayhem, and the only people to be trusted with firearms are agents of the State, we can escort them to Kennesaw.

But this is not happening. That's what I implied in my original post regarding the media ignoring Kennesaw.

PS: The use of a series of dots followed by a question mark at the end of a declarative sentence is internet shorthand for questioning ones' own facts and inviting debate and/or comment.

solareclipse

August 21, 2006, 05:33 AM

yes it is the law, no it is not enforced, yes kennesaw cops simply suck (you've heard right), yes years ago some people did get free guns since they couldn't afford to buy them

that's the story in a nutshell

BobTheTomato

August 21, 2006, 06:15 AM

I find this pretty odd. I was there on business earlier this year and the streets werent covered in blood. No heaping piles of corpses to step over. Oh well I am sure that I was just there on an off day......

Lone_Gunman

August 21, 2006, 07:58 AM

Another interesting fact is that although Kennesaw has grown by a large amount in population since 1982, the crime rate there is still very low.

Yes, the crime rate in Kennesaw is low. In fact it is on par with the crime rates of other small Georgia towns that don't have an ordnance requiring firearm ownership.

Mandatory firearm ownership is to the second amendment as mandatory religion is to the first amendment.

4v50 Gary

August 21, 2006, 08:25 AM

They passed the law the same time some city in Illinois (Skokie?) banned all handguns. BTW, when in Kennesaw, be sure to stop by their Civil War and Railroad Museum. The General, the steam engine of Civil War fame is fully restored and is housed there.

atlctyslkr

August 21, 2006, 09:35 AM

I know a few non gun owners that live there. They're not anti's or anything just indifferent. It's not enforced. Now if they passed a law that made open carry or concealed without a permit legal then that would be something.

Tory

August 21, 2006, 10:06 AM

As far as a media "cover up" goes, no, there is no "active" cover up in progress and I have no idea why you bring Columbine & the Shoe Bomber into this.

HERE'S why:

Why hasn't this success been reported in the media?
(Well, we all know why...)

YOU implied a media cover-up. The same sort of drivel the above mindlessly-repeated "alerts" alleged. Hence the response. :uhoh:

While the Kennesaw ordinance was enacted 24 years ago, it is a fairly frequent reference on this and similar forums.

And relying on the internet for spelling and punctuation is like relying on graffitti for literature. :rolleyes:

Byron Quick

August 21, 2006, 11:11 AM

Whatever good PR we can get from this situation, Mr. Myers (who doesn't care for gays, blacks, Jews or immigrants) neutralizes it and pushes us "in the red" for PR.

Which is exactly why he was interviewed by the media repeatedly.

I was present at a 20/20 interview once and witnessed the entire interview.

The editing that was done was a hatchet job. Thank God the editor isn't in charge of gerrymandering.

Stories you don't like are given the same treatment. Find unsavory characters who support the position you wish to show in a bad light. Ignore the respectable, upstanding members of the community who support it.

The Deer Hunter

August 21, 2006, 12:04 PM

IM moving there

Malum Prohibitum

August 21, 2006, 12:36 PM

Kennesaw, Georgia, bans guns in city parks in violation of state pre-emption law!

:fire:

Look about 3/4 of the way down the page:
http://www.georgiapacking.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=263

ctdonath

August 21, 2006, 09:11 PM

Why hasn't this success been reported in the media?Because there's nothing to report. "If it bleeds it leads" ... and that doesn't happen much there. 'cept very recently when Kennesaw suffered its first murder in a long time ... which involved a knife.

Euclidean

August 21, 2006, 09:16 PM

I've never heard of it, but then again I was a year old when it happened.

evan price

August 21, 2006, 11:23 PM

Tory, you're the one who said "CONSPIRACY".
A media BIAS is not a conspiracy.

Tory, you do not see a media bias in this country? Who is living with her head in the clouds now?

Oh and by the way, it's spelled "GRAFFITI".

Kisses,
Evan

c_yeager

August 22, 2006, 05:19 AM

I suspect that Kennesaw had pretty close to zero "gun violence" before they adopted the ordinance. It was a political move in the first place IIRC.

Oh, and this pops up in the media ALL THE TIME, it was big news when it happened, and one still sees stories about it every now and then. I thought every gun owner was taught this one on their first trip to the shop.

Malum Prohibitum

August 23, 2006, 10:43 AM

Two murders this summer.

The most recent was committed by an ex-Marine that was involved in that 12 year old Japanese girl rape international incident a few years back.